Maria review

JANE SIBERRY
MARIA

Out - Sept 1995 - No. 25 - p. 42

The Canadian chanteuse's seventh record maintains a distinct jazz flavor throughout much its length. Siberry's ethereal voice is shaped into jazz vocals in both phrasing and pitch, with complementing piano rhythms, floating trumpet arrangements, and percussive styling. Depending on your propensity for experimental jazz-pop, some of these self-conscious compostions threaten tedium. But fear not: rebirth is in the air on the exhuberently joyful "begat begat (spring is coming)" and the buoyant "lovin' cup" and "honey bee." Two minutes of silence precedes the closing "Oh my my," an excructiating 20-minute riff on "puff the magic dragon." Oh my, indeed.